1948 49 50 Ford Truck Upper Top Grille Bar on 2040-parts.com

UK new car registrations beat 2012 total – a month early

New car registrations rose by 7% last month, the best performance in almost a decade – and a rise that has seen the total registrations for 2012 already beaten with a month still to go. 159,581 new cars were registered last month, taking the year to date total up to 2,111,819. This easily tops the 2,044,609 new cars registered in 2012.

Hyundai Suicide ‘Advert’ causes a rumpus

It’s not easy advertising your wares and finding the right balance between mainstream and innovative to capture attention, as Hyundai has found out to their cost with an ‘advert’ for the hydrogen powered ix35 FCEV which, rather distastefully, depicts a man trying to commit suicide by running a hose from the tailpipe to the cabin before realising he can’t achieve his aim as the FCEV’s only emissions are water. It’s a proper cock-up from Hyundai – usually so sure-footed with their PR – but, despite Hyundai US putting the blame at the door of Hyundai UK, there’s more to this suicide ‘advert’ than meets the eye. It seems the suicide video was put together by Innocean – a European Ad Agency owned by Hyundai’s Chairman Chung Mong-koo and his daughter, and responsible for much of Hyundai’s marketing output – and was a clumsy attempt to gauge reaction to the somewhat macabre take on the benefits of an FCEV.

MG SV returns, TF founders

By Keith Adams (additional reporting by Russell Gowers) Motor Industry 15 April 2008 10:14 In the latest twist of the MG Rover saga, and three years after the original MG XPower SV supercar went out of production, the controversial coupe has made a surprise re-appearance. However, the likelihood of us ever seeing the reborn TF roadster seems to be receding by the week.Now known as the XPower WR, the Qvale Mangusta-based supercar has been eased back into production by William Riley – a descendant of the creators of the historic car company bearing the same name.His company, known as MG Sports and Racing Europe Limited, produces the supercharged WR, selling it for between £75,000 and £90,000 depending in specification. The rights to the car – and its badge – were bought from MG Rover administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2005.